USA > Massachusetts > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901 > Part 10
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pated in ceremonies incident to the opening of the ports of Osaka and Kobe, inland sea of Japan, January, 1868; put "Hartford" out of commission at New York, August, 1868; ordered to Naval Academy, September, 1868; detached at own request, October, 1868; ren- dezvous duty, New York, winter of 1868-69; navigation officer, navy-yard, Boston, 1869-72. Ordered to command the "Tuscarora," May, 1872, he sailed for the Pacific via the Straits of Magellan the following month ; ordered, Jan- uary 1, 1873, to take Commander Selfridge aboard at Panama, and co-operate in a survey for an inter-oceanic canal across the Isthmus of Darien ; landed seamen and marines at Pan- ama, April, 1873, to protect the transit across the Isthmus during a revolution there.
Assigned, May, 1873, to special duty on board the "Tuscarora," having been selected by the department to make deep-sea soundings between the western- coasts of the United States and the shores of Japan, to determine the practicability of laying a submarine cable on the bed of the North Pacific, he fitted the ship for the work at Mare Island, and began operations off San Francisco the following September; was supplied with apparatus for sounding of both rope and wire, but soon dis- carded the use of the former altogether, and used the Sir William Thomson machine for sounding with pianoforte wire of gauge num- ber twenty-two. The machine was new and comparatively untried; improved upon the de- tails of its construction, and prosecuted the work with great success, working an entire revolution in the methods of deep-sea sound- ing, getting more accurate results than had hitherto been obtained, with a corresponding economy of time and labor. The "Chal- lenger " had been supplied with the Thomson machine, but would not attempt its use. The Superintendent of the Coast Survey also dis- couraged its adoption. But Admiral Ammen, the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department, determined it should be tried on board the "Tuscarora "; and the result amply sustained his prescient decision. He ascer- tained the true continental outline from Cape Flattery to San Diego, ran lines of sounding from San Diego to Yokohama via the Ha-
waiian and Bonin Islands and the Aleutian group, and found off the east coast of Japan the deepest and most extended trough discov- ered in the bed of the great oceans up to 1895, the deepest cast being four thousand six hun- dred and fifty-five fathoms, or more than five and a quarter statute miles. In 1895 H. B. M. ship "Penguin " got a sounding in five thou- sand one hundred and forty-two fathoms. This was in the South Pacific, near the Kermadec Islands. But during the past year, 1899, the United States ship "Nero" found a depth of five thousand two hundred and sixty-two fathoms near Guam. In the prosecution of such work he invented three different cylin- ders, or cups, for bringing up specimens of the bottom, which are now in use in the navy. The cup number two, slightly altered, has been adopted by the Coast Survey, under the name of the "Sigsbee Cup."
The progress and the results of the "Tusca- rora's" survey excited great interest both in this country and in Europe. In an address before the Mathematical and Physical Section of the British Association at Glasgow, Sep- tember, 1876, Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin) spoke of the work in terms of high compliment. Sir Wyville Thomson, of the "Challenger " expedition, also commended the methods and achievements of the "Tusca- rora's" survey in his address before the Asi- atic Society of Japan, at. Yokohama, in Feb- ruary, 1875, acknowledging the great advance that had been made in deep-sea work by the use of the Sir William Thomson machine.
Senior officer present at Honolulu when riot occurred at the election of David Kalakaua as king of the Hawaiian Islands, February 12, 1874, Commander Belknap landed companies of blue-jackets and marines from "Tuscarora " and the "Portsmouth," restored order, and occupied the town six days, at the request of the king, when, the new government being firmly established, he withdrew the force to the ships. He received therefor the thanks of the king, the Legislative _Assembly, the Cham- ber of Commerce, and the consular corps. Detached from the "Tuscarora," October, 1874, he was ordered as Hydrographic Inspec- tor, United States Coast Survey, December,
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1874; asked for other orders, and received orders to command receiving-ship "Ohio," Boston, January, 1875. Commissioned Cap- tain, January 25, 1875, and obliged to go South two months later on account of ill health, due to exposure while doing deep-sea work, he went to Pensacola Station as Captain of the yard. He was on the Board of Visitors of the Naval Academy, June, 1875, and on the Board of Examiners at same place, October, 1875; detached from Pensacola yard, May, 1876, and put on special duty with reference to deep-sea sounding; December 1, 1876, ordered back to Pensacola Yard as Commandant; remained in command there until January 15, 1881.
March 1I, ISS1, he assumed command of the "Alaska " at Panama. Senior officer pres- ent for the greater part of the time on Pacific coast of Peru and Chili, he made a number of deep-sea soundings off the coast of Peru, the deepest in three thousand three hundred and sixty-seven fathoms, one hundred miles west of Callao Bay; was on special duty at Hono- lulu with the "Alaska" from August to latter part of November, 1882. November 21, 1882, he received from King Kalakaua a commission and decoration as Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kamehameha, which are now in the custody of the Department of State at Washington. Having put the "Alaska " out of commission at Mare Island Navy Yard, Feb- ruary, 1883, he was ordered to Norfolk as Cap- tain of the yard, June, 1883.
He was president of the Naval Torpedo Board, 1883-84; senior member Dolphin Ex- amining Board, 1885; commissioned as Com- modore, June 2, 1885 ; and ordered to Wash- ington as Superintendent of the Naval Observatory. Detached from observatory a year later, and ordered, June 15, 1886, to assume command of the navy-yard, Mare Island, California, he was commissioned as Rear Admiral, February 12, 1889, and March 9 detached from command of the yard, and ordered to proceed to Yokohama, Japan, and assume command of the naval force of the Asiatic Station. He assumed such command, April 4, 1889, and retained it until February 20, 1892, when he was detached and ordered home; was ordered as president of the Board
of Inspection and Survey, April 17, 1892, and was ordered to Chicago, October, 1892, to rep- resent the naval service at the dedicatory cere- monies of the grounds and buildings of the Exposition. In April, 1893, Admiral Belknap was ordered, in conjunction with Major-general Schofield, United States Army, as special es- cort to Vice-Admiral, the Duke de Veragua, at the naval review, New York Harbor. He subsequently supervised the speed trials of the new cruisers, the "Detroit," "Machias," "New York," "Columbia," and "Marblehead " ; also the final examination and trial of the "De- troit " and "New York." He was retired from active service under the age limit pre- scribed by statutes, January 22, 1894. Total sea service, twenty-four years, four months; shore duty, eighteen years, three months ; unemployed, three years, nine months.
Admiral Belknap was for a time connected with the American Geographical Society, but withdrew from its membership some years ago. He is a member of the New England Historic- Genealogical Society, Boston; of the New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, N. H. ; of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States; of the Naval Order of the United States; and of the Colonial and For- eign Wars Orders. He is also Knight Com- mander of the Royal Order of Kammehameha, of the Hawaiian kingdom.
He is a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers and to historical societies on topics of political, historical, and scientific interest. He received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Dartmouth College in 1894. He is now chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Massachusetts Nautical Training-school and a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Sailors' Home, Quincy, Mass.
He has been twice married. His first wife was Ellen D. Reed, daughter of Dr. I. A. Reed, of Newport, N. II., whom he married December 23, 1861. She died October, 1865. Issue : Alice Maud, born April 29, 1863.
On December S, 1866, the Admiral, then a Commander, married at Calcutta, India, Frances Georgiana, daughter of Mr. George WV. Prescott, then United States Consul at
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Ceylon. Issue : Prescott Hartford, born March 16, 1869; Reginald Rowan, born June 16, 1871; and Grafton MacAllister, born July 14, 1875.
DRIAN LOUIS PUTNAM, who is engaged in the jewelry business at Provincetown, was born in Danvers, Essex County, Mass., August 29, 1834, son of Adrian and Fanny (Flint) Put- nam. Through his grandfather, Timothy Putnam, a soldier of the Revolution, who was with Washington at Valley Forge, and who died in Danvers in 1838, he is of the eighth generation in descent from John Putnam, the immigrant progenitor of the Putnam family of New England. The direct male line is John, ' Nathaniel,2 Benjamin,3 Stephen,+ Phineas, 5 Timothy,6 Adrian, 7 Adrian Lewis. 8
Adrian Putnam, father of the subject of this sketch, was a native and lifelong resident of Danvers. He was engaged for a number of years in the manufacture of shoes, but later turned his attention to market-gardening, which business he carried on successfully for a quarter of a century. He died at the age of eighty-three. His wife, Fanny Flint, daugh- ter of Jeremiah and Sarah (Elliott) Flint, was born at South Middleton, Essex County, Mass. Her father was of the fifth generation of the family founded by Thomas Flint, who came to New England about 1650 and settled in the outskirts of Salem village, subsequently known as Danvers and now as Peabody, his homestead being near the place now known as Phelps Crossing, on the Salem & Lowell Railroad. The line of descent was: Thomas, 1 Captain Thomas,2 Captain Samuel, 3 Deacon John, 4 Jeremiah. 5 Captain Thomas Flint, Jr., born in 1645, fought in King Philip's War. His son, Captain Samuel Flint, born in 1693, married Ruth Putnam, daughter of John Put- nam, third son of John, second, and grandson of John Putnam, first, named above. Deacon John Flint, born in 1725, son of Captain Samuel, married in 1746 Huldah, daughter of Jethro and Anne (l'utnam) Putnam. Jethro Putnam was son of Lieutenant James and grandson of John Putnam, second. llis wife,
Anne, was the daughter of Joseph3 Putnam (son of Thomas, 2 John') and a sister of Gen- eral Israel Putnam of Revolutionary fame. Lieutenant James Putnam, and after him his son Jethro, resided at Oak Knoll in Danvers, the late home of the poet Whittier. Jeremiah Flint, Mrs. Adrian Putnam's father, who was born in 1749, by his wife, Sarah Elliott, had nine children - Roger, James, Anna, Sarah, John, Jeremiah, Jesse, Samuel, and Fanny. Of the members of this family Roger became a resident of Boxford; James removed to Maine; Anna became the wife of Deacon Jo- seph Peabody, of Middleton; Jeremiah, Jr., married Mary Howard, and died in 1853, leaving four children, one of them being Charles L., now deceased, for many years sec- retary of the State Board of Agriculture; Jesse resided in Lynn for some years, but died in Middleton; and Sarah married Asa Russell, of Peabody. The mother of these children died at the age of eighty-five years. Adrian and Fanny (Flint) Putnam reared four children - Otis Flint, Adrian Lewis, James Brainard, and Mary Francis.
Adrian Louis Putnam received his early education in the public schools of Danvers, and, after graduating from the high school, pursued the course of study at the Bridge- water Normal School, where he was gradu- ated in class No. 46 in the year 1856. Then, coming to Provincetown, he taught in the grammar school for one year and subse- quently in the high school for two years, after which he spent a year as teacher in Danvers. Returning to Provincetown, he engaged in the jewelry business, which he has carried on suc- cessfully up to the present time. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Public Library and of the Library Building Associa- tion, and is also a trustee of the Seaman's Savings Bank and a member of the Invest- ment Committee of that institution.
He cast his first Presidential vote for John C. Fremont, and has ever since been true to the principles of the Republican party. For ten years he was chairman of the Republican Committee of Provincetown, and as a town official he has served on the School Committee for thirty-five years. His fraternal society
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affiliations are with King Hiram Lodge, F. & A. M., of Provincetown, of which he has been treasurer for thirty years ; Provincetown Lodge, No. 2029, K. of H .; Mayflower Council, Royal Arcanum; and Miles Standish Lodge, Good Fellows. Of the four last-named lodges he is financial agent.
Mr. Putnam was married in 1860 to Ade- laide Osborn Cook, who. was born in l'rovince- town, a daughter of Henry and Abigail (Dyer) Cook. Mr. and Mrs. Putnam are the parents of two children - Nellie Flint and Abbie Cook.
ON. AUGUSTUS PEARL MARTIN, Water Commissioner of the city of Boston, is a veteran in the public service, both civil and military, having distinguished himself as a gallant offi- cer of light artillery in the-war for the Union, having held the office of Mayor of Boston in 1884 and that of Police Commissioner for five years, 1894-99. On the staff of Governor Long in 1882 he held the rank of Brigadier- general : hence the title by which he is usu- ally known.
Son of Pearl and Betsy Verrill (Rollins) Martin, he was born November 23, 1835, at Abbot, Piscataquis County, Me. His father was a native of New Gloucester, Me., being the son of Ezekiel and Mary (Stinchfield) Martin and grandson of Robert and Hannah (l'earl) Martin. Robert Martin was born on October 26, 1739, in Dover, N. Hf. Going to Maine after his marriage, he made his home for a time at Windham, where his son Ezekiel was born in 1766, afterward at New Glouces- ter, and later on at Buckfield, where he died in his ninety-seventh year. Serving as a sol- dier in the French and Indian War at the age of sixteen, he was taken by the Indians and held in captivity several months. General Martin's mother, born July 4, 1811, was a daughter of Moses and Olive (Verrill) Rollins, residents of New Gloucester, Me. Moses Rol- lins was son of Stephen and Hannah (Stanley) Rollins and fifth in descent from Nicholas Rawlins, the immigrant ancestor, who married Rebecca, daughter of Deacon Robert Long, of
Newbury, Mass., October 31, 1679, and set- tled at West Newbury. Benjamin, son of Nicholas, married Hannah Annis. Their son John married Mary Carr, of Newbury, and was the father of Stephen Rollins above named. Nicholas Rawlins served in King Philip's War, being in Captain Samuel Appleton's company.
Removing to Boston in 1842, Pearl Martin engaged in business as a dealer in carpets and window shades. He died June 22, 1886. His wife, Mrs. Betsy Verrill Martin, died on De- cember 10, 1856. They had six children, four of whom grew to maturity, namely : Alphcus Rollins, born August 28, 1834, who enlisted in the Thirty-second Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers, and died of disease contracted in the service of his country, in November, 1862; Augustus P., the direct subject of this biography ; Charles Otis, born February 22, 1838; and Florinda, born November 15, 1839. Desire Francis, the first child, and Betsy Acilla both died in infancy.
Augustus Pearl Martin was educated in the Boston public schools, the academy at Wilbra- ham, Mass., and a private school in Melrose. Becoming a salesman in the store of Fay & Stone, boot and shoe dealers, in 1858, he re- mained in their employ till after the outbreak of the Rebellion in April, 1861. In 1854 he joined the Boston Light Artillery, and in 1858 was commissioned Second Lieutenant. Re- signing the office in 1860, he retained his membership. Among the earliest to respond to the President's call for troops after the fall of Fort Sumter, he was made Sergeant, First Battery Light Artillery, Massachusetts Volun- teer Militia, in service of the United States, April 21, 1861; mustered in May 18, 1861, and went to the front; mustered out August 3, 1861; commissioned First Lieutenant, Third Massachusetts Battery, September 5, 1861 ; promoted Captain, November 28, 1861 ; mus- tered out at expiration of term of service, Sep- tember 6, 1864.
The Third Massachusetts Battery was incor- porated with the Fifth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, and during three years of service took part in all of its engagements, "winning for itself," it has been said, "an imperishable
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name and a reputation second to none." "What kind of a battery is Martin's?" was asked one day. "Regular or irregular, there is none better in the service," was the quick reply. In July, 1862, Captain Martin was made Chief of Artillery of the First Division, Fifth Army Corps; and in May, 1863, he was placed in command of the Artillery Brigade of the Fifth Corps, being assigned to that duty by General Meade.
By those best qualified to judge his merits, namely, his superiors in rank in the Fifth Corps, he was considered one of the best artil- lery officers in the army. He particularly dis- tinguished himself at the battle of Gettysburg in July, 1863. At Spottsylvania Court House he was wounded in the neck. Unfortunately, Massachusetts had no regimental artillery or- ganization in the army; and, owing to this circumstance and the refusal of the authorities at Washington to make the change in that re- spect desired by Governor Andrew, Captain Martin failed to receive the promotion to the Colonelcy that he had fairly earned. His military record may be thus set down : he did the duty of a Brigadier-general in long cam- paigns and a number of hard-fought battles of the war; he retired from the army with the rank of Captain. Preferring to stay with his old command, he declined in August, 1863, the commission offered him by Governor An- drew of Lieutenant Colonel in a new Massa- chusetts regiment about to be formed. On June 22, 1867, in tardy and inadequate recog- nition of gallant and meritorious services dur- ing the war, he was commissioned Brevet Colonel of United States Volunteers, to date from March 13, 1865.
On his return to Boston at the close of his army service he again engaged in the boot and shoe business, in 1867 becoming a partner in the firm of Fay & Stone, in 1871 in the firm of Martin & Skinner, and in 1876 in that of Martin, Skinner & Fay. In 1884 he served as Mayor of Boston, having been clected on the citizens' ticket, indorsed by the Republi- cans. The following year he resumed the boot and shoe business as a manufacturer, the firm being A. P. Martin & Co.
In June, 1878, he was elected Commander of
the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston; and on June 2, 1879, on the two hundred and forty-first anniversary of the or- ganization, in an eloquent and patriotic ad- dress, he presented to the company for its museum the sword that was given to him as Lieutenant in 1858 by members of the Light Artillery of Boston, and that he had worn through all his campaigns as Commander of the Third Massachusetts Light Battery and Chief of Artillery of the Fifth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac. On the scabbard were inscribed the names of the battles in which he had taken part: "Yorktown, siege of York- town; Hanover Court House, Mechanicsville; Gaines Mill, Malvern Hill, Harrison's Land- ing, Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Rappahannock Station, New Hope Church, Mine Run, Bristoe Station, the Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Spott- sylvania Court House; Petersburg, siege of Petersburg ; and Weldon Railroad."
Elected Commander of the military order of the Loyal Legion of Massachusetts in May, 1879, he served two years. During his term of service he received and entertained General Ulysses S. Grant and many other distin- guished soldiers of the war: He is a member of John A. Andrew Post, No. 15, Grand Army of the Republic, and was Chief Marshal of the procession at the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument on Boston Common, September 17, 1877. There were in line, all told, twenty- six thousand men, eleven thousand of whom were veterans of the war, including some of the principal generals, such as Mcclellan, Sherman, Hooker, Warren, and others. He was also Chief Marshal of the procession at the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Boston, Sep- tember 17, 1880.
In May, 1894, General Martin was appointed by Governor Greenhalge Police Commissioner for the city of Boston, and designated chair- man of the board. This position he held five years, waging an earnest campaign against vice, being especially successful in the sup- pression of gambling. He was appointed to his present position of Water Commissioner by Mayor Quincy, December 23, 1899. He has
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been president of the Tapley Machine Com- pany, of the Showalter Mortgage Company, the New England Phonograph Company, and the New England Mutual Aid Society. He was the originator in 1886 of the Algonquin Club, was one of the founders of the Boston Athletic Association, and has been one of its Governing Committee. He was an attendant of the Church of the Unity. during the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Minot J. Savage and chairman of the Standing Committee of that church until the retirement of Dr. Savage to accept the pastoral charge of the Church of the Messiah in New York City.
General Martin was married in 1859, by the Rev. Dr. A. A. Miner, to Abbie Farmer, daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth B. (Leav- itt) Peirce, of Boston. Their children are: Flora Elizabeth, born August 3, 1861; Frank- lin Pearl, born March 4, 1866; Charles Au- gustus, born August 2, - 1868; and Everett Fay, born December 6, 1874. Flora Eliza- beth is now the wife of John Shepard, Jr., and mother of three children - John Shepard (third), Edward Pearl, and Robert Ferguson. Everett Fay Martin married Elizabeth Francis Thoms, daughter of William Sewell and Elsie Farrar (Parker) Thoms, and they have two children : Elsie Pearl, born December 28, 1897; and Augustus Thoms, born August 17, 1899. William Sewell Thoms was a soldier in Third Maine Regiment, Colonel Lakeman commander.
APTAIN NEHEMIAH MAYO DYER, United States Navy, com- mander of the protected cruiser "Baltimore" in the naval battle of Manila Bay, May 1, 1898, is a native of Cape Cod, and has been a seafaring man from his youth. He was born at Provincetown, Febru- ary 19, 1839, son of Henry and Sally (Mayo) Dyer. His father was born November 14, 1794, and died December 20, 1884; and his mother was born July 30, 1801, and died July 16, 1847. Both were natives of Truro, and belonged to old Barnstable County families.
Henry Dyer was a lineal descendant, doubt- less in the fifth generation, of Dr. William
Dyer, who came from England toward the latter part of the seventeenth century, and married at Barnstable in 1686 Mary Taylor, and later removed to Truro. He had eight children, the third a son Jonathan, born in 1692.
"Dr. William Dyer died July 27, 1738, aged about eighty-five years. Mary, wife of Dr. William Dyer, died October 8, 1738, aged about eighty years."
Elisha Dyer, grandfather of Henry (born October 25, 1730, died September 8, 1791), was probably the Elisha mentioned in the record of Truro baptisms as "baptized Decem- ber 6, 1730, Elisha, son of Jonathan Dyer." Elisha Dyer's wife, Hannah Atkins, died February 15, 1813. She was, perhaps, the "Hannah, daughter of Israel Atkins," bap- tized February 26, 1728. Israel Atkins mar- ried, according to the historian of Truro, Han- nah Cook. Daniel Dyer, son of Elisha and father of Henry, was born September 27, 1760, (baptized November 16), and died April 4, 1816. His wife, Martha Knowles, daughter of Jonathan Knowles, born December 24. 1760, died February 12, 1845. Her mother's maiden name was Vickery. She may have been "Martha, daughter of David Vickery, baptized October 8, 1727."
Sally Mayo, wife of Henry Dyer and daugh- ter of Nehemiah Doane and Malatiah (Rich) Mayo, was of the seventh generation from the Rev. John Mayo, who was invested with the office of a teaching Elder at Barnstable in 1640, and was ordained as pastor of the Second (or Old North) Church in Boston, November 9, 1650. He died at Yarmouth in 1676. All his children were born in Boston. Captain Dyer's descent from the Rev. John' Mayo is through his son John2; Thomas, 3 born July 15, 1672; Noah,+ who married in 1742 Mary Cushing; Noah,5 born in 1743, who married in 1764 Hope Rich; Nehemiah Doane 6 Mayo, born in 1769, who married Malatiah Rich (see History of Truro, by Shebnah Rich), and was the father of Mrs. Sally Mayo Dyer.
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